“Are you in the LEAST bit ready?”
by StarQuality
Summary: 30 minutes to go. Will Alistair and Judy get to the party in time? PG Just in case


Title: "Are you in the LEAST bit ready!?"  
  
Author: StArQuAlItY (StarQuality. Formally StarQuality. Or, Miss.Quality. Or... Star or even Emma... Whatever.)  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters mentioned in the fic. Nor do I own the actual show (As Time Goes By) or anything else actually. I am owned by green aliens from the plant Zinnnnnng.  
  
Summary: 30 minutes to go. Will Alistair and Judy get to the party in time?  
  
A/N: I dunno. Don't ask me. Oh wait, I made it, right? Well um... It came out of nowhere, like a bullet. Just read the damn thing. Oh and the necklace that Judy is wearing: I own it. It's my fave one and I wear it as much as I can. Just thought I'd tell you! It really is plain, but very very pretty!  
  
Story:  
  
"I'm home!" Alistair yelled as he opened the front door and closed it again,  
  
"I'm in here...!" Judy answered, "Have a good day?"  
  
"Mmm. Not bad, where's here?"  
  
"Bedroom... Before you say it, yes I AM dressed. Hello..." Judy turned around in her chair when her husband walked in the room. She stood up to kiss him, but he bent down and kissed her instead,  
  
"It never crossed my mind! Anyway, how long have you been home?"  
  
"Since.. Oh, about six o'clock, why?"  
  
"Six... Judy. It is now seven o'clock. You promised me you'd be ready!"  
  
"I AM ready! Except for my make-up... and shoes... and..."  
  
"Judy. Are you in the least bit ready?" Alistair sat down on the bed heavily and took off his shoes... Judy turned round to look at him, he glared at her and she turned back to the mirror,  
  
"Yes! I have my dress on under my dressing-gown! My hair is done aswell! I told you, make-up and shoes, then I'm ready! I promise. Anyway, you're not ready are you? Oh and, let me pick your tie today. Yesterday you wore that ghastly pink and yellow one." Judy looked closely into her mirror to inspect her half-completed make-up,  
  
"But... Isn't it wrinkled? And what was wrong with my tie?! You bought me that!" Alistair opened the wardrobe to look for a suit. He pushed several aside and pulled out his favourite black one. Not too casual, not too... smart. Just right. Then he reached for his tie rack, but Judy got up and beat him to it,  
  
"No. No it's not wrinkled. I just put this on to protect it against make-up stains..." Judy ignored the remark about the tie, but presented him with a plain blue one, to go with the suit. He took it from her and put his clothes on the bed, "Anyway, I'm ready now... Just need my necklace and earings and..."  
  
While she was telling him all this, Alistair had finished getting ready and was leaning over her shoulder and making a great show of looking at his watch. Then he looked at Judy and sighed,  
  
"I think I'll go and make a cup of tea... Seeing as we'll be awhile yet, obviously!" Alistair left the room. Judy got up to straighten the bed, where he had sat. She got up as quietly as she could, but Alistair put his head around the door, "GET on with it!"  
  
Judy laughed and un-did her dressing-gown. She looked in the mirror to check if she DID have any wrinkles in her dress. Satisfied that she didn't, she sat back down to put her necklace on. It was a pice of silver that was twisted into a loop. It was very plain but she loved it. Alistair bought it for her. She thought about playing with it romantically, but she felt guilty about poor Alistair... So she put it on and found a matching pair of silver earings. Finally she was ready. Almost. First, she had to go on a hunt for her shoes.  
  
~*~  
  
Alistair sipped his tea and checked his watch. Again. Then he began the shift from one foot to the other. He was getting impatient,  
  
"JUDY!? Oh, you're ready." Alistair began to yell, but Judy came out of the bedroom, during his... yelling-period,  
  
"Yes. I had to look for my shoes, okay?! Now, are we ready?" Judy walked up to Alistair and looked into his cup, he had finished, but he was still holding it. She took it off him and placed it onto the counter, "Are we really that late?"  
  
"No. Not really. I just wanted you to hurry up!" Alistair dodged a playful swipe that was aimed at him. He took Judy's hand, "No, we'd better get going... We don't want to be totally late."  
  
"I thought you said we weren't late!" Judy looked up at him, he was biting his tongue,  
  
"We're not... we're not... It's just... I don't actually have any idea where John lives!"  
  
"John?"  
  
"John. The guy that owns the house."  
  
"I thought it was Luke that owned it?"  
  
"No. He was years ago. Luke sold it to Phil, who sold it to Paul, who sold it to Ben... Who sold it to John. Who sold it to Simon."  
  
"Who's Simon?" Judy asked, as they walked to the car, "You've never mentioned him. You always tell me about your colleagues!"  
  
"Well... He's not that important! Besides, I tried to tell you, but you were busy! You were in the bath and I came in to wash my hands and I was telling you all about Simon. But you weren't listening!"  
  
"I don't remember." Judy got in the car and pulled the door behind her, "I don't remember Luke either. Who was he?"  
  
"Luke? He was the one you fancied. With the brown yes and hair? And pointy nose?" Alistair looked for his keys. Once he'd found them, he started the car and handed Judy a piece of paper, "These are the directions. Read them for me, please!"  
  
"I did no FANCY him! But, yes I remember him now. Do you see him much? Is he still married?" Judy took the directions and looked at them,  
  
"Yeah. They've just had a baby... I don't know what it's called, so don't ask me!"  
  
"I wasn't going to. Turn left here..."  
  
Alistair turned left. Then he drove for a bit, until Judy told him to turn right. Which he did. Then left, right, straight on... Another left, and another... Until Alistair had NO idea where they were.  
  
~*~  
  
"Are you SURE you're reading them right?" Alistair asked Judy, as he pulled over to the side of the road,  
  
"Yes! Look! I've followed them to the letter. It says after the second left, we should be there! Well, I don't see anything!" Judy pointed out of the window, "Unless... Simon, lives on a farm, in a barn, with some sheep and a few cows... We're lost."  
  
"....Is that MY fault?" Alistair looked to where she was pointing,  
  
"I didn't say it was, did I!? It's not my fault either! These directions are wrong!" Judy gave him the directions and he looked at them. She was right, they WERE wrong, they had followed them. Exactly. Now they were lost.  
  
"Brilliant. Lost in the country..."  
  
"You make it sound terrible!"  
  
"It is!"  
  
"Oh. Alright. Was this party important?" When she said this, Alistair looked at her,  
  
"Well... Not to the company. But to me! I mean... You see... All the guys at the office... Don't actually believe you exist."  
  
"What!?"  
  
"It's true! I showed them our wedding picture, that I have on my desk, but they STILL don't believe me!"  
  
"Well... That's ridiculous! Anyway... Phil was at the Wedding!"  
  
"Yes, but he doesn't WORK at the office! He quit months ago! Anyway, they don't believe me. So I told them that we would come, so that they could meet you!"  
  
"But... surely... Your Wedding ring? Didn't they ask to see that?"  
  
"Yeah, but they still didn't believe it. So, if we could've gone to the party, I could've put them right!" Alistair turned off the engine and sighed.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry Alistair!" Judy leant over and out her head on his shoulder, he sighed and kissed her on her head. She sighed too and looked up at him, "It's dark now... There's no chance of us getting there is there? Ring... Sid... No, Simon and tell him we can't make it."  
  
"One problem... I didn't bring my mobile."  
  
"I did! I put it in my bag before we left. I knew you'd forget!"  
  
"Why do you always think of everything!? What would I do without you?"  
  
"Get stranded more often!" Judy reached down and took his phone out of her bag, then she handed it too him, "You could phone the AA as well. See if they can help us!"  
  
"I could... Oh hello Si. Yes, bit of a problem mate. We're... well, lost. No, not my fault. No, not her fault either! No, I'm not trying to get out of it! It's true! We're... Yes! Exactly! Now, I will see you tomorrow. No, I don't want a debate about it. Tomorrow. Goodbye." Alistair hung up and handed the phone back to Judy,  
  
"I thought you were phoning the AA?"  
  
"Nah... I think we'll just stay here! Might as well... What would we do if we went home? Mope around, moaning that we got lost and had to call out a help service! No, we'll be okay!"  
  
"But... I thought you wanted us to have a romantic evening?!"  
  
"We will! I mean... Well. Kind of... Hey, it's just us at least. No-one to disturb us!" Judy looked up at him, and then down to her bag and took his mobile back out of it.  
  
"IF you want this to be... 'Romantic'... Do the thing you hardly ever do... Turn this thing off for once...!" Alistair took the mobile and looked at it for a minute,  
  
"Well..." What Alistair did next, really shocked Judy. He opened it, pressed a button and turned it off. Then he reached forward, opened the glove compartment and threw it in there, "There. I will not be tempted to call anyone now!"  
  
Judy smiled and put her head back on his shoulder. About five minutes later, Alistair started to move around and tap his fingers on the steering wheel. Judy sat up and looked at him,  
  
"What ARE you doing?"  
  
"I'm uncomfortable. I can't sit still when I'm not comfortable!"  
  
"I remember. Last night you were wriggling about and you kept hitting me... Once you'd left I looked under the mattress. We were sleeping on all sorts! Bits of paper, magazines!"  
  
"Really? I wonder why it didn't bother me before...?"  
  
"Probably because you tidied the bedroom before we went to bed. I say tidied, I mean... I don't know what I mean. I must admit, I'm not comfortable either... Hey, why don't we sit in the back? Probably more comfortable!"  
  
"Hey hey... Good idea.."  
  
"Alistair!" Judy pretended to look shocked,  
  
"What!?"  
  
Judy shook her head and laughed. Then she opened the door and got out of the car. Alistair took the keys out of the ignition and got out too. They both slammed the front door and opened the back ones. Before Judy got in, she reached into the boot (A/N: Boot=Trunk) of the car and took out the blanket they kept for emergencies,  
  
"It is a bit cold in here. Lucky we have this..." Judy gave it to Alistair, as she climbed into the back. Alistair took it from her and opened it. Once she had sat down, he threw it over her. But she moved closer too him and covered them both with the blanket. Alistair decided he liked that idea better and they snuggled together. Alistair took Judy's hand and squeezed it tightly, Judy once again looked up at her and this time he pulled his other hand out from under the blanket and ran his little finger down her cheek,  
  
"I'm kind of glad we didn't go." Alistair said happily,  
  
"Me too. I love you."  
  
"I love you too." And with that, Alistair kissed her and they snuggled down for a romantic (But not particularly comfortable) night.  
  
~*~*~*~ The End! ~*~*~*~  
  
Why must I end all stories like that!? I'm sorry if it trailed off. I'm sorry if it was rushed. I'm sorry if there were any mistakes. I'm sorry for the bad title. I'm sorry if it wasn't very good. I'm sorry I'm human! I'm just sorry. Sorry sorry sorry.  
  
Am I in a bad mood? No! I just saw Two Weeks Notice (Brilliant film-Sooo funny and soooooo romantic!! But I didn't cry. And yet, I cried at the end of Stuart Little 1+2, Dr.Doolittle, Ice Age, Monsters Inc.! ) and I'm currently thinking about Hugh Grant.  
  
Oooh. I'm also going to see Chicago (Fave song: Mr.Cellophane!) again, Richard Gere!!! Aaaaaaaaaah! Gah I need cheering up again. Hmm, have I got any friends online at the moment? No. Something to do with the fact that it is 2:20am. Never mind eh? Only another.18hrs 40mins until ATGB is on.  
  
In the UK, they are showing ATGB on UKGold at 7:00pm EVERY night. Now, this means I can't watch Emmerdale, but... Never mind. Yesterday (Tuesday 18th) was v.v.v funny. Penny is dying, Steven is cuddling teddy-bears and Jean is being mistaken for Cilla Black.  
  
In today's episode, Alistair, Sandy and Judy come in... with a pig. Hm.. And AND! Alistair and Judy talk for ages and ages! I can't wait for that! BUT I have to wait WEEKS to see THE Wedding! (Not the Wedding. THE Wedding! Gosh, one of my fave couples and I haven't seen their Wedding! Disgraceful!)  
  
Anyway, I know it wasn't very good, but you can at least review and tell me if there was ANYTHING you liked?! Please no flames. Or constructive- criticism. I can't take it today! Another day! (Whoo, constructive. Good word). Okay, if you must c-c, please e-mail me about it! Instead of putting it in a review! 'Cos I actually check my e-mail and I don't always check FF.net.  
  
Thankies :)  
  
Star-sies. (???)  
  
(Quote: What's the point of having a big nose if you can't jam a banana up it?) 


End file.
